La Liga introduced post-match interviews with referees from round 11, and a controversial penalty decision in the first week's game became a hot topic. In the Basque derby between Athletic Bilbao and Sociedad, towards the end of the first half Bilbao midfielder Nicholas Williams received a through ball from the left flank and was tackled by Sociedad defender John Aramburu as he entered the penalty area. Aramburu claimed to have touched the ball, but referee Alejandro Hernández Hernández ruled the moment a foul and called a penalty. VAR did not intervene and Bilbao scored the winning goal.
After the match, Sociedad's players and manager expressed strong dissatisfaction with the decision. ``The referee insisted that I didn't touch the ball, and I can't believe they called a penalty when it was obvious that I touched the ball, despite the technology,'' Williams said, adding that it was not a penalty. Manager Pellegrino Matarazzo complained, ``It's unfortunate that it was a penalty kick even though John clearly touched the ball,'' expressing his anger that the referees didn't even check.
Referee Hernández Hernández explained the basis for his decision in the post-match interview. "I was in a good position and the play was unfolding about 4 meters away. I was on the boundary of the penalty area so I could tell if it was inside or outside," he said, adding that he ruled the contact between Williams' dribble and Aramburu a foul. The reason why VAR did not intervene was that ``VAR only intervenes when there is an obvious mistake, and no errors were identified in the video operations room.''
Sociedad said it respected the referee's decision but would consider improvements going forward. La Liga has adopted a policy of conducting interviews with referees at certain matches, with the aim of increasing referee transparency and improving the quality of match broadcasts. It is expected that this decision will lead to a re-evaluation of the referee's decision-making process and the role of VAR.